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National evaluation of children's trusts

National Evalutation of the Children's Trust Pathfinders - Final Report (March 2007)

The National Evaluation of Children's Trust Pathfinders was undertaken by the University of East Anglia, in association with the National Children's Bureau.  This three-year, independent evaluation ran until March 2007 and examined the structures, processes, outputs, outcomes and costs of different models for children's trusts. The aim was to identify features associated with successful implementation in the context of local circumstances and national policy.

The evaluation carried out a study of all 35 children's trust pathfinders. In total these areas contained 20% of the children and young people aged 0-19 of England. The study worked in even further depth with 11 local areas, which included both children's trust pathfinders and non-pathfinders. The evaluation methods included:

  • Extensive interviews with service managers, professionals, and  strategic leaders

  • Children, young people, parents and carers' panels

  • Headteacher surveys

  • Assessment of local and national data

  • Economic analysis

The final report of this evaluation was published on 29 March 2007 and is available at the top of this page together with a summary. Below there are three short reports developed from the findings of phase 1, a map of the pathfinder areas, and a good practice guide.

Further documents

Joint Planning, Joint Commissioning and Budget Pooling in Children's Trust Settings (April 2006)

Child, Youth and Parent Participation in Children's Trust Settings (April 2006)

Managing Change for Children through Children's Trusts (April 2006)

Map of the Children's Trust Pathfinders (December 2005)

Pathways to Success (March 2006)
A good practice guide on improving services for disabled children from the pathfinders.

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This page was last updated on 30 March 2007

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